In honor of this scenario being included as an official Dragon Diceâ„¢ tournament event at the Los Angeles Strategicon GATEWAY 2016 Convention, we proudly present this REALLY fun game for your Labor Day enjoyment:

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (BOTFA)

Designed by Clifford Broadway @quickbeam2000
and
Nicole Roberts @rasputintx

"So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

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This scenario makes for a really juicy game of Dragon Diceâ„¢; showcasing the game's best conceits that make fantasy battle storytelling come to life.

Here we use analogous Dragon Diceâ„¢ races in a specific formulation to recreate the famous Battle of Five Armies found in the climactic final chapters of "THE HOBBIT" slanting our adaptation more towards Tolkien's original book with some fanciful additions. Remember: in the book Azog was long since dead, there were no trolls at the Battle, and Bilbo barely participated. Well, we had to include Legolas just as Peter Jackson did, because he's just so bad-ass.

This is a scenario of quick-attrition and is expected to run a maximum of 90 minutes playing time. It has been playtested thoroughly for more than a year.

Our scenario is played like a standard 24-point Dragon Diceâ„¢ game but with the following key differences:

* Always requires 5 players

* No Magicians construction

* No Dragonkin

* No Minor Terrains

* Players use pre-built armies that include unique characters/ items from the story (Dice List included at end)

* Bilbo Baggins is the only major character not present because while invisible with the Ring he was knocked unconscious and woke up after the BOTFA was over.

* Only ONE dragon is used -- that being a Red/Gold Hybrid Drake representing Smaug the Golden

To determine who plays which army, five players blindly choose one die out of a hat representing each race fighting in the BOTFA:

(2) Winning player must also capture two terrains' 8th faces: a combination of Erebor/ the Frontier AND ANY OTHER Home terrain. Bottom line: capturing two or more Home terrains without also controlling Erebor's 8th face does not count for the win.

** The Arkenstone and Smaug are initially placed at Erebor during Setup.

** Players divide their starting forces normally into 3 armies as they see fit, using standard 50% size-limit rules.

Initiative:
Roll all Horde armies normally to determine order of play.
Army Placement:
NO ARMY can be initially placed at Erebor. Players' Home Armies begin at their respective Home Terrains, as always, but their Campaign and Horde armies must go to other players' Homes.

SMAUG special rules:
* Smaug begins the game placed on Erebor, as if already summoned.
* Each player engaged with Smaug rolls the die on his/her own army, since no one brought the beast to the table.
* He will attack armies normally during the proper point of each player's future Dragon Attack Phase after they've arrived at Erebor.
* If Smaug rolls BREATH, the choice of Red or Gold Breath for Unit-based damage is made by the person to the Active Player's immediate left and Army-based effects apply normally.
* Once slain, Smaug is placed in a communal Summoning Pool which belongs to no individual player, but to all.
* Smaug will reappear immediately and commence an isolated Dragon Attack Phase on the Active Player at Erebor every time that terrain is maneuvered from 7 up to its 8th face. The "Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities" will not wait for the next turn of the next Active Player, but attacks immediately upon anyone possessing the 8th face.
* If Smaug rolls Wings, he inflicts 5 points of damage normally and flies to Lake-town (if he is not slain).
* If Smaug rolls Wings while at Lake-town or any other Home terrain he inflicts 5 points of damage and defaults to fly back to Erebor (if he is not slain).
* Erebor's 8th face Dragon's Lair ability affects Smaug normally.
* Using 7 points of Red or Gold magic will summon Smaug normally.
* Bard's Black Arrow (the Heart-seeker magic item) Impale SAI works normally but Bard does not have to be alive or present to achieve this effect.

FIVE ARMIES special rules:
There are none. All regular Dragon Diceâ„¢ rules (Rule Set 3.0 at the time of this posting) apply in this scenario. Racial abilities, SAI's, Magic Items and Artifacts, 8th Face special abilities, Spells, Dragon Breaths, Eldarim Champion abilities, etc all apply normally. Exceptions are noted.

~ ~ *Bonus Characters & Items* ~ ~

(1) The ARKENSTONE (the King's Jewel):

The 1st player to arrive at Erebor receives the Arkenstone (represented by any shiny token or "jewel-like" gaming piece you have). Possessing it is like a never-ending Stoneskin spell: it adds +1 save to your army while they are present at Erebor. Leave that terrain (or perish with no units left alive) and the ARKENSTONE must be transferred to the next player who had arrived after the 1st. Players must keep track of who arrived in sequence at the Lonely Mountain after the 1st player.

GANDALF the Grey and shape-changing BEORN begin the game on the sideboard -- to be brought into play upon the following conditions:
(2) GANDALF, Mithrandir, the Grey wizard:

Gandalf is represented by the King's Die (a.k.a. the Royalty Die). He is added to the player's Reserves who *first* captures any 8th face. This die provides the standard recruiting/promoting benefits.
(3) BEORN, goliath man who can shapeshift into a fearsome bear:

Beorn is the only Unit in this campaign bearing a Magic icon. He is added to the weakest player's forces after the end of the 2nd complete round. Beorn is added to any army that player wishes.

The weakest player is defined as having the MOST combined health of Units dead and buried.

Completing a round occurs whe the *last* player (who initially placed armies last) ending his/her turn after all players have gone around the table. Use a marker to distinguish the 1st player and keep track of the end of the 2nd complete round of turns.

Free Beorn Advice: For the love of honey, do not Hug anything that can do 4 points of damage back on you. HUG SMART.....

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DURATION: The game is ideally intended to finish between 60-90 minutes of playtime.

**WINNER**
The winning player gets a pipe-full of Longbottom Leaf, the finest pipeweed in the South Farthing; and gets to sit with Bilbo in his garden at twilight enjoying seed-cakes, cold ale (it comes in pints), and listening to stories about his many adventures.

---------------------------------------------------------------------DICE LIST:
Use these specific dice to KEEP PROPER BALANCE OF POWERS and to create the perfect narrative nuance. Play Howard Shore's film scores while engaged in this scenario for maximum flavor:

Observant players may note how important the functions of the City 8th face, Feralizing racial ability, Wild Growth SAI, Gandalf's addition, and Beorn's addition may influence the late-stage game. If Smaug rolls effectively against these Armies as they struggle towards their terrain objectives (all while decimating each other) -- the winning criteria seems further out of reach unless the above mechanisms help bring units back from the Dead Unit Area.

Feedback and player's thoughts on this game are very welcome. Nicole and I hope you enjoy this mischief as much as we do.

Let's Roll to Victory!
_________________Much too hasty,
Cliff

"Quickbeam" from TheOneRing.net

Last edited by Quickbeam on Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:55 pm GMT; edited 2 times in total

I had the pleasure of playing this very creative themed DD game over the past weekend at Orc Con 2017! Apart from the specific army construction, the game is Dragon Diceâ„¢! You just need 5 players. It played relatively fast due to the fact that there are no mages. Extremely fun and entertaining, please give it a try and tell me what you think.

Thanks again to Quickbeam and his cohort for developing this FANtastic scenario!_________________Rep (director)

I just read through this scenario and definitely would love to run it sometime.

I do have something to ask out of curiosity though. I do understand that the rules for Impale state jaws specifically, but wouldn't it be more flavorful for Smaug to die if he rolls the Belly icon instead (for this scenario at least)?

I ask since that is hoe Bard killed Smaug in the story. He was told of the missing scale on Smaug's belly and hit that spot with the Black Arrow.

And although this may seem like it would make slaying Smaug easier, it could be stated that the Belly icon with only one ridge spike means auto kill (there are two different Belly icons on the dragons). This is just a thought.